About
Denis has had a highly successful and visible international business career across the USA, Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia and Singapore and Samoa, and for the last three years owned the Seductions of Kauai Gallery at the Marriott Resort, Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii.
His leadership awards and appointments include
- Who’s Who in Emerging Leaders.
- Who’s Who in Finance and Industry.
- Leadership awards from || The Greater Houston Partnership || American Lung Association (Texas chapter) || Business Volunteers for the Arts.
- Senior Fellow – FINSIA [Financial Services Institute of Australasia] for services to that sector.
- Former Board member of:: Business Volunteers for the Arts || American Lung Association || Employers & Manufacturers Association || Institute of Management || The Bruce Mason Center || Meals on Wheels – L.A.
- Author of four published books on Engaging Leadership, High-performing Teams and Lessons From Business and Leadership failures.
His photographic training and interest have permeated his entire business career, and as he says::
I’m of the age where I started with a box Brownie
No, I wasn’t born in 1900, but at that time the Eastman Kodak Company introduced a low-priced, point-and-shoot, hand-held camera, called the Brownie. The Brownie camera was designed, priced, and marketed to have wide appeal.
The Brownie camera was a simple, black, rectangular box covered in imitation leather with nickeled fittings. To take a “snapshot,” all one had to do was hold the camera waist height, aim, and turn a switch. Kodak claimed in its advertisements that the Brownie camera was “so simple they can easily [be] operated by any schoolboy or girl” (excerpt from an ad in Cosmopolitan Magazine, July 1900). Though simple enough for even children to use, a 44-page instruction booklet accompanied every Brownie camera.
The Brownie camera was very affordable, selling for only $1 each. Plus, for only 15 cents, a Brownie camera owner could buy a six-exposure film cartridge that could be loaded in daylight.
I was fortunate to have Denny King as a neighbour when I grew up in Hamilton. We lived beside the Waikato River. Denny was a good bit older than me, but we and a couple of others built a boat, and I learned to ski on the river. Skiing became a strong part of my life, and at one point I became club captain of the Auckland Water Ski Club.
Denny provided my foundation in photography. He was a commercial photographer specializing in people and weddings. A Leica camera was his favourite ‘toy.’
My interest in photography continued, and after leaving school at fourteen I drove 80 miles to find ‘my world.’
I saw an advert in the Auckland Star for a trainee photographer for Whites Aviation. Leo White returned from the war with the knowledge and equipment to start an aerial photography business. The cameras used were 5 inch by 4 inch continuous roll film, and a 5 x 4 glass plate.
My mentor was Clyde Stewart, a pipe-smoking good-natured soul, who took me under his wing.
In those days we had 30 and 40-inch wide photographic paper, and an enlarger which ran up and down the room on rails. We printed everything from 8 x 10 inch prints to murals up to sixteen feet by ten feet high. We pinned the paper to the wall, and then, hand-rolled the exposed paper through troughs of developer, stabilizer through to fixer. After this process, there was a team of young ladies who hand oil coloured the finished product.
As a fingerprint expert in the New Zealand Police, I continued my interest with forensic and crime scene photography for more than five years.
Ah, those 25+ years living in the USA. A primary focus was on educating my children and growing various businesses, and I had the opportunity to continue my training and passion in photography during various trips through Europe.
Over the past 7 years, in addition to image sales, I have been published in airline magazines and calendars.
Most of my images are captured on a Canon 5D, although sometimes I have to resort to a ‘point and shoot’ rather than miss the moment when I am kayaking. I lost one camera when a rogue wave tipped me over!
I am a stickler for presenting images as they are seen, rather than enhanced through Photoshop or like software. The exception? When I need to straighten a horizon.
The beauty, not exaggerated, but in it’s wonderful natural form. All image nuances are from using camera settings, without ever touching “auto”
Without bragging, I am known for my coaching style, and client commitment before, during and after my photographic Safaris and Tours.
“Always Reaching For Nature’s Beauty”
Denis